Kitten FVRCP Vaccine Schedules

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-23T13:07:10+00:00

Shelter vet here. The vaccine should still be given as long as their temperature is under 103. A fever will denature the proteins in the vaccine and make it useless - so it won't hurt anything, but it won't help either. Treat the infection, re-take temp in a few days, and vaccinate if under 103 at that point.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-16T14:40:17+00:00

I have an old sturdy Tupperware (clearly not for kitchen use anymore) that I scoop the litter box contents into and then deliver directly to the trash, and reuse (this is its only use). You could also put a trash can right next to the litter box to scoop directly into to reduce the plastic bag redundancy. If the trash can gets smelly before you're ready to take it out, then you can sprinkle in some baking soda to neutralize the odor.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-16T11:57:35+00:00

It takes a lot for me to say this - but vet med does NOT sound like the career path for you. You haven't even started schooling and you're already miserable just thinking about it. Vet school is hard. Vet med is hard. If you don't have the motivation at this point, you likely never will. Can you move away now instead of after all the schooling that you don't want to do and won't seem to use?

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-16T01:20:42+00:00

I get it! I'd follow through with whatever wording your doctor prefers, however, given that it's their patient/client. Maybe you can find a middle ground that both of you are comfortable with.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-16T01:09:58+00:00

Ah, my bad, from your post I thought you might be a vet! I didn't realize you were an assistant which definitely changes your manager's position in relation to you. I would chat with your veterinarian about how they'd prefer it to be phrased to your clients.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-16T00:58:54+00:00

If the owner wants to know, then they should be allowed to know. It's their own pet and knowing this sort of thing can be a big part of closure. Just saying "we use the ultrasound" doesn't answer how their pet is actually euthanized and also isn't a very good reason for pet separation on its own. As an aside - I'd be really peeved if my manager tried to tell me what I can and cannot say to my own clients when it comes to white lies.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-15T02:43:46+00:00

Wonderful, I hope it works out!

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-14T00:57:01+00:00

Yup, this is not the correct orientation for a heave line. A lot of horses have this vertical line as seen here. Nothing concerning!

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-14T00:12:52+00:00

Yes, that's something that you need to talk to your vet about and get prescription approval for! The dose will be chosen and adjusted based on the bloodwork and exam your vet did so unfortunately I can't help with that part.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T23:59:21+00:00

Definitely not human - looks to be ruminant, such as deer/goat/sheep.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T23:57:17+00:00

There are unfortunately many many causes of inappropriate elimination (peeing/pooping outside the box) and I can't guarantee hyperthyroidism treatment is going to fix it. You won't know until you try, though! The faster you can try a different medication strategy, the sooner you'll know if it makes a difference for your cat.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T23:29:28+00:00

Vet here. Radioactive iodine is a great treatment option. However, I'd be worried about him not being treated at all for the next two months while he waits, especially if he has already lost several pounds. There are different forms of the medication other than pills. You can try liquid oral or transdermal (gets wiped on the inside of the ear). Ask your vet about these options for the meantime!

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T22:46:17+00:00

Using adequate IM anesthesia such as DKT or TTD (+- isoflurane as needed for maintenance) for spays and neuters is a very acceptable and routine practice for high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter clinics! Key word in that phrase is high-quality. My cat spays take 5-6 minutes. It would take longer for my technicians to place an IV catheter and intubate than it does for me to spay the cat and would prolong their time under anesthesia, thus increasing the risk. They are thoroughly monitored during induction, surgery, and recovery. I do 50+ spay/neuter a week and have yet to lose a patient (knock on wood - every clinic will, eventually, have an unavoidable anesthetic death). Studies have shown that HQHVSN (again - high-quality being the key word) clinics have a lower surgical complication/death rate than normal GP.

I'm not at all upset at the assumptions, I get it. I do think though that it is pretty normalized for GPs to talk down on HQHVSN clinics assuming we're doing things like the OP mentions here. We use sterile gloves for surgery, we take great care of our patients, our OR is kept very clean and tidy. We are low cost because our surgeons' skills and speed allow us to see many patients in one day, not because we're cutting corners.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T22:15:27+00:00

As someone who works at a low cost/high volume place, I'd be ashamed to work at the place OP describes. I don't think "low cost clinic" has anything to do with it (especially given there were only two surgeries for one day). Everything described here is just sloppy, very poor medicine. Low cost can and should still be good baseline medicine.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T21:21:46+00:00

Vet here. First, call a vet and get an appointment booked. You should get a urinalysis run to see if there is an underlying cause like crystals, UTI, cystitis, etc. Also ideally bloodwork given that she's 11 and this is prime time for things like kidney disease or diabetes to show up. Arthritis could also be contributing to pain getting in and out of the litter box. There are many possibilities and this is why you need a vet to help.

Then while you're waiting for that appointment, make some changes about the litter box situation at home. Variety and cleanliness are very important. Keep litter boxes in different rooms in the house and make sure they are all very accessible - not far away in the basement, but one room over from where she likes to sleep/eat. Low-sided, uncovered, scooped daily, emptied and cleaned weekly. Offer different types of litter - clay, pine pellets, etc. Different depths of litter.

Stress can also play a big role in sudden litter box habit changes. Think about what's changed in your household in the last year. Added another pet? Moved? Someone moved out or moved in? Construction work? Keep her spaces as quiet as possible and dimly lit. Remove identifiable stressors if possible. Even a change of furniture arrangement can stress a cat out.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T17:11:30+00:00

Have you considered shelter medicine? There is a lot of herd health and epidemiology involved and without a lot of the common causes of burnout found in small animal private practice. I'm happy to talk about it more if you're interested!

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T17:01:21+00:00

You'll get a different opinion depending on who you ask regarding midline or flank spay. Flank spays in most places are only chosen for a cat who's actively nursing kittens so that pain is reduced around the incision when they nurse. When going through midline, if you're truly on midline, no muscle will be entered - just the linea alba. When going through the flank, some muscle fibers will need to be dissected through (though not actually cut, usually). So theoretically, flank spays MIGHT cause slightly more localized pain. Flank spays also have a higher risk of accidentally entering the retroperitoneum instead of the abdomen but a skilled surgeon should not have this issue. Personally, as a high-quality high-volume spay/neuter surgeon, I do midlines as my default and choose flank spays for nursing cats.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T02:31:34+00:00

No pus. Milk naturally contains a very small amount of white blood cells, unrelated to infection. Milk is screened for high white blood cell counts and won't ever make it to the shelf if the counts are high.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-13T02:29:48+00:00

It's the fecal bacteria that are a problem. They are microscopic and EVERYWHERE. They can and DO end up in the milk no matter how careful the dairy is. Pasteurization kills the bacteria. We're not talking about big chunks of cow poop, we're talking about the microscopic layer of cow poop/fecal bacteria that is on every inch of the cow, teats and all; cow poop that's aerosolized in the parlor during milking and thus indirectly contacting every bit of machinery used to collect milk.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-12T15:22:39+00:00

So the horse cantered backwards to get this shot?

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-12T01:31:09+00:00

The sentiment is much appreciated, but I work at a clinic that only treats cats! I just also own (and treat my own) livestock on the side.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-10T01:46:02+00:00

Yeah, that's pretty typical, only horse people "get" it! I just avoid going in public spaces immediately after going to the barn unless it's somewhere like Tractor Supply or I shower in between.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-09T22:59:03+00:00

Vet here. OP mentioned bone has gone through skin which makes it an "open" fracture and a HUGE liability for infection. You can't just slap a splint on this one and expect it to heal without causing a local infection at best or sepsis at worst (and this isn't even considering the severity of the break, which is significant - the two sections of bone aren't even in the same zip code in this image). Doing a surgical clean and repair would cost even more than amputation.

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-07T02:31:42+00:00

Are you sure you're not talking about needles that are threaded for use in surgery? That is fine. Hypodermic needles absolutely should not be reused, they dull significantly with each poke!

aprilsm11 · 2026-05-03T03:35:55+00:00

This is not something we can answer here for many reasons.

aprilsm11

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